Leica M9 - problem with stripes or banding across my images - please help!

[vanhulsenbeek]

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Thomas, you make good points. Could you be more specific about this one? I don't think I've seen one report on the forum of a breakdown due to lack of weather sealing.

 

Howard,

-on the M8 Forum, some years ago, there was a report by imported-reinierv on a M8 he put in in a backpack under very wet and very cold conditions in Greenland. I think the consensus was that only a Nikonos would survive in such conditions.

-on the other end of the scale: Tina Manley dropped her M8 in a ditch, she dried it and it revived. So no breakdown!

Both instances: just from my memory.

[jaapv]

As to ReinierV's camera - weathersealing would not have made one whit of difference. The cause was condensation inside the camera.

 

My M8 has sat in a puddle without ill effects too. There have been one or two more dunked M8s been reported on this forum.

[jaapv]

 

I know that Stephan D is gathering all the information about these problems -

It would be highly surprising if a factory - any factory- did not keep track of the sort of repairs that are seen in CS in order to improve the product.

And how about this Leica: - you are seriously moving into pro territory with the digital M's. We are no camera collectors that buy the new model every time to just put it on a shelve.

We don't care about LCD scratches, viewfinder dust or other user scratches on the body - we care about a camera that works in all weather conditions for at least 1200 shots per day on reportage assignments.

I know plenty of pros who don't need that. If you need a camera for a job it must certainly have the right characteristics. To me professionalism is choosing the right tool for the job - and for the work you describe a hefty pro DSLR seems to me to be more suited.

[Wowmeta]

Hello again from Germany....

 

today was the next travel to Solms for mapping out the vertical sensorfailure and mapping out the one hotpixel. After a hour with a car and 10 minutes waiting is it ok.

The horizontal stripes still existing, i think, so many pictures in high iso is not my regular.

Horizontal stripes with the changed M9 are much less now.

Now go out and take pictures and have fun

 

Thanks for reading, sorry for my english (Google Translate and my Brain )

 

Have a nice day!

 

Peter

[dpattinson]

I don't have a M9, but horizontal banding in my M8 is very strongly associated with the battery charge indicator showing less than the full 3 bars.

 

Nowadays, when I'm shooting high ISO, or when the output is for commercial use - I always change battery as soon as I notice it has dropped to 2 bars of charge. I rarely see banding in the resulting shots.

 

There was also some speculation that discreet mode was pulling a little extra from the battery when the shutter was being held open - and hence encouraging banding. So you might want to disable that if you're using it on the M9.

 

In respect of the OP's images, that banding certainly looks like what I see on the M8 with low battery charge. However, as an aside - if you want to have high-key output, then might be better to light it that way in the first place rather than try to drag the shadows up afterwards.

 

No Solutions, other SD-Card - other Stripes... I think if the M9 is longer power on, then more stripes (thermal Problem?).

I call with Leica in Solms / Germany and take one hour travel to receive last Friday (13....) an other M9 (Swapping...)

Lucky travel to home to see the next problem: - one line CCD fault....

Calling with Leica - they say - it is the Battery

Take other two Batterys - naturally the same Problem. Now waiting an Monday on reaction from Leica - the premium manufacturer - but i like the M9 and the Rangefinder.

No alternatives on the market for me.....

I will report.

 

Ah, the stripes on the replaced M9: they are still there, little bit les....

 

No i have M9 with horizontal "Banding" and vertical CCD Line failure

 

Have a nice Day

 

Peter

[Xmas]

...

 

In respect of the OP's images, that banding certainly looks like what I see on the M8 with low battery charge. However, as an aside - if you want to have high-key output, then might be better to light it that way in the first place rather than try to drag the shadows up afterwards.

 

I use a SC pre asph summilux 35mm @f/1.4 and carry a remote flash for profile light - works with slide film...

 

Noel

[ringohung]

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I am having the same stripes noise problem. I have tried 3 different SC cards and the results various. However, I found that it mostly happen when I shoot at C mode and continuously taking 7 photos until the buffers is full.

This stripes noise usually happen in the last 3-4 images. I have done some testing, my older and slower ScanDisk Extreme III performs better coz I only got the last 1-2 images having the problem. For the latest Extreme Pro and Toshiba Class 10 (this the worst), I would have the last 3-5 images having the strips. I am feeling that My M9's speed of writing to the latest and fastest SD cards is not catching up....somehow!

[Malvolio]

Hello all,

 

I was interested in this particular thread as I have experienced the same issues on an M9 under warranty.

 

I was wondering what the outcome was for those who experienced the banding? The camera has gone to the service centre in Melbourne for evaluation and if necessary onto Solms.

 

Was this issue resolved for those experiencing the banding? I also have to agree that for some srange reason it was worse on particular cards.

[Malvolio]

Here is an example of the banding I have experienced. The areas in this photo where the banding were visible were underexposed in the original DNG file by about two stops. This was taken at base ISO. I was therefore surprised at what appeared when I lifted the shadows in LR (current version)

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[dpattinson]

Adrian,

 

Do you recall if your battery was fully charged at the time. I have learned to change batteries on my M8 as soon as I notice the battery is at less than 3 bars charge. Much earlier in this thread there was a comment that sensor read-out suffered when the camera was drawing charge for other purposes - like holding the shutter recock in discreet mode or during continuous shooting for example.

 

If the banding is happening on full charge, at a slow rate of shooting then you might get some help from Leica service.

 

I'm sincerely hoping that this sort of issue is finally resolved in the new M

[Mark Pedley]

Yet Another Leica M9 Bug | Mark's Photography Blog

 

Perhaps of some help.

Mark

[douglasf13]

When I shoot continuosly in lowlight, the first image if the series is usually fine, and each image after that gets progressively worse. If I wait a three count after the red light stops blinking between each shot, the banding usually goes away. So I basically avoid continuous shooting in lowlight.

[Malvolio]

Adrian,

 

Do you recall if your battery was fully charged at the time. I have learned to change batteries on my M8 as soon as I notice the battery is at less than 3 bars charge. Much earlier in this thread there was a comment that sensor read-out suffered when the camera was drawing charge for other purposes - like holding the shutter recock in discreet mode or during continuous shooting for example.

 

If the banding is happening on full charge, at a slow rate of shooting then you might get some help from Leica service.

 

I'm sincerely hoping that this sort of issue is finally resolved in the new M

 

The battery was approx 75% charged when the above shot was taken. I had assumed it was also battery related but when I charged the battery again I was able to repeat the bands on a full charge.

 

I should also add the camera has the latest firmware.

[Malvolio]

When I shoot continuosly in lowlight, the first image if the series is usually fine, and each image after that gets progressively worse. If I wait a three count after the red light stops blinking between each shot, the banding usually goes away. So I basically avoid continuous shooting in lowlight.

 

Douglas, I too tried shooting frames in C mode and to be honest the banding showed up intermittently as opposed to predictably.

 

Did you do anything about the issue or have you accepted it as a quirk of the M9? I'm surprised because one would assume the issue would be reported more widely if it was inherent in the M9 design.

 

I should also add that the banding only seems to be an issue in shadow areas of an image.

[rramesh]

I don't understand how changing SD cards can reduce banding or for that matter any artifacts. A digital image can have only 2 states on a card - its either readable ie.valid or its corrupted. I don't see how the image will change at the point of being written to the SD card. If it were corrupted in anyway, the file would probably not be readable.

[Malvolio]

I don't understand how changing SD cards can reduce banding or for that matter any artifacts. A digital image can have only 2 states on a card - its either readable ie.valid or its corrupted. I don't see how the image will change at the point of being written to the SD card. If it were corrupted in anyway, the file would probably not be readable.

 

I agree completely - it doesn't make sense to me (although I am no engineer). And I would have thought that the latest iterations of firmware would have resolved SD card compatibility issues so in my view its is something apart from the SD card, something inherent in the camera that will need to be resolved

[Paul J]

I don't understand how changing SD cards can reduce banding or for that matter any artifacts. A digital image can have only 2 states on a card - its either readable ie.valid or its corrupted. I don't see how the image will change at the point of being written to the SD card. If it were corrupted in anyway, the file would probably not be readable.

 

What ever the reason, it worked for me. I suspect it's a power issue during the writing procedure. Either that or something to do with shielding, which I understand the M9 doesn't have a lot of. I can't explain it but the issue instantly resolved once I swapped the card. I've never seen it again. It certainly worth trying if you have the issue.

[Malvolio]

What ever the reason, it worked for me. I suspect it's a power issue during the writing procedure. Either that or something to do with shielding, which I understand the M9 doesn't have a lot of. I can't explain it but the issue instantly resolved once I swapped the card. I've never seen it again. It certainly worth trying if you have the issue.

 

Hopefully they will be able to identify the issue but I have read other posts where the camera was repaired a number of occasions to no avail.

 

What is a complete mystery to me is that for the first few months of ownership there were no issues at all..

[Paul J]

Yeah, same for me it took a while to show up. I've also heard of a couple people sending it in several times and the problem never resolved even after the sensor was replaced tending to suggest it's something more structural, perhaps shielding or power issues with the native camera infrastructure.

 

I am very lucky in the sense that the issue hasn't resurfaced. But maybe I shouldn't tempt fate!

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[Malvolio]

I thought most of you would find this interesting regarding this issue which has been reported for some time now.

 

I sent my M9 into Leica for this very issue and received an email back from the local authorised repairer who advised as follows:

 

"Thank you for suppling sample images from your Leica M9, we have determined the phenomena demonstrated in the images to be unresolvable at this time.

 

Leica is aware of this phenomenon and will likely have more information in the near future. We will keep your details on record for future correspondence.

 

Thank you for your understanding"

 

This would indicate that it's an issue arising in a number of cameras. I was advised when I spoke to the authorised repairer that Leica would be addressing the issue "soonish" and that it may be firmware resolvable but couldn't be certain.

 

I will keep everyone posted because it now looks as if Leica has escalated the issue. In the meantime I will get my camera back to use ( which is one consolation) and await an official statement from Leica about the banding issue.

 

HOPEFULLY it will be resolved. The repairer remapped the sensor in any event because of an intermittent hot pixel issue but advised that once they have more info on the banding issue they will contact me.

 

As an aside, I read the other thread where it was claimed the banding issue was resolved with new SD cards but that was not my experience when I tried new cards. Admittedly the banding was not a regular problem but it should not be an issue at all IMHO for the cost of the camera.